Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
I used to be one of the many knitters who didn’t particularly enjoy a visit to sleeve island. Working with dpns or a long circular and magic loop, I rarely looked forward to knitting the second sleeve of a pair. This changed radically when I started knitting with 8 or 9 inch fixed circulars a…
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We were able to put quite a few things in the KDD shop last week, including our brand new 10 Years in the Making book. The book is now available for wholesale too, so if you are a bookshop or yarn store (or know a bookshop or yarn store) who would like to stock this…
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Today we released the Evendoon Cardigan – the third pattern in our 10 Years in the Making Club (come and join us for three months of knitting fun!) I really enjoyed styling this cardigan with my beautiful Mull Bag, which was made for me a wee while ago by Colin Campbell of McRostie: one of…
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Today I thought I’d share with you the introductory words I wrote for People MAKE Glasgow . For me – a former eighteenth-century specialist – the connections between Glasgow’s eighteenth-century past and its twenty-first century present have always been apparent, and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to write about those connections here. People MAKE…
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One of the things I’ve been really struck by, as I reach the end of the process of writing our People Make Glasgow book, is just how many thriving enterprises in this city are led by brilliant young women. I’ve found learning more about the innovative work of makers, artist and designers like Rachel E…
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I’ve been suffering with a migraine, and am still feeling very ropey, so thought I’d just follow on from yesterday’s post about masks and performance, with a few images (and words) about my childhood – in which costume and dressing up played a significant role – and which Pilar is now drawing on in the…
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Jaguar and Tiger, Chilapa, 2017. Phyllis Galembo, Mexico: Masks, Rituals (2019) This is the fifth in my series of posts about my participation in an Applied Arts Scotland / British Council Crafting Futures residency, the work I’m developing as a consequence, and the impact of the project on my own practice. You can read parts…
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Preparing for the Crafting Futures residency reminded me of being a teenager going on “exchange.” One’s bag would always include some representative souvenirs for the family one was visiting: a tin of biscuits or confectionery, a small book about one’s local area. I wanted to bring gifts for my compatriots on the Crafting Futures residency…
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I sometimes feel that I’m unusual in my love of ends. As a project draws to completion, and especially if it has involved a lot of different shades, I really look forward to sorting all the ends out. I don’t find this process onerous. It’s just a question of setting aside enough time and being…
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Yesterday afternoon I took a break from grading a cardigan (a task that makes my eyes spin round) and spent a happy hour (as I often do) poking about the Rijksmuseum – which is one of those wonderful institutions who have digitised and made publicly available large portions of their collection. If you have an…
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Morning everyone, it’s Tom here. I thought I’d pop in today to share with you some of the odd but interesting things I’ve been doing recently with paper and light. As many of you know, I REALLY like paper! I’ve previously waxed lyrical about the properties of papers and how they fundamentally inform the final…
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We are about to take our short festive break, and have all been looking back over the past 12 months. 2019 has certainly been a very significant year for us as a publisher. With our Glasgow printers, Bell & Bain, we’ve completed work on four new titles, and printed around 18,000 books (the largest number…
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During our Hebridean break last week, we took the opportunity to photograph the results of my latest ready-made knitwear project: the North Star Snood. I loved designing my snoods last year, and also really enjoyed the process of working with William Lockie. Last year I used stitch patterns which had been previously featured on my…
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Making Latitude Hello again, it’s Tom here with my third, and final, instalment about making my new book, Latitude. In my previous two posts I’ve spoken about the craft of bookbinding and the importance of the choice of materials to the finished book object. Today I’d like to tell you more about the concepts and…
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Hi, it’s Tom again, with part 2 of my series about my new adventures in book making – and specifically about making a particular book, which I’ve named Latitude. Latitude is a photographic project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. It’s a made-object, as much as it is a collection of…
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We are all busy here behind the scenes – putting the finishing touches to the pattern collection that will be released as part of our forthcoming club, and awaiting the arrival of our new and much-anticipated yarn – Milarrochy Tweed. Milarrochy Tweed is produced for us by our friends at Donegal Yarns – a company…
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